Wire splicing



Aug. 8, 1961 F. RECK v 2,994,941

WIRE SPLICING Filed Jan 30, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

//v VEN 7'01? 1''." RE C K WCMM AT'TORAIEV Aug. 8,1961 F. RECK 2,994,941

WIRE SPLICING Filed Jan. 30, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR E REC/f BY wcwm ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofice Patented Aug. 8, 1961 2,994,941 WIRE SPLICING Frank Reck, Flushing, N.Y., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 30, 1957, Ser, No. 637,185 7 Claims. (Cl. 29-335) This invention relates to splicing and more particularly to connecting together a plurality of wires in a new and improved manner.

Wire-splicing tools as heretofore constructed are generally designed to be employed in practicing methods of splicing which comprise twisting wires together in order to attain electrical and mechanical connections therebetween. Reliable prior art splicing methods often also include the step of soldering the twisted wires together, or of crimping a conductive sleeve member over the twisted wires. Such prior art methods are commonly very time consuming and, accordingly, expensive.

An object of the present invention is to facilitate the splicing of wires.

More specifically, an object of this invention is a new and improved method of wire splicing and a new and improved wire-splicing tool.

Another object of the present invention is a splice connection having novel characteristics.

These and other objects of this invention are attained in and by means of one specific illustrative device which is designed to wire wrap a number of wires onto an element of electroconductive material in a mechanically secure and electrically stable manner; the embodiment is designed to make wire-wrapped electrical connections of the type fully described in Patent 2,759,166, R. F. Mallina, August 14, 1956.

An illustrative tool embodying the basic principles of the present invention advantageously comprises a wirewrapping assembly having an outer stationary housing, an inner longitudinally apertured conductor material re- :eiving sleeve member, andan intermediate rotatable wrapping spindle having a plurality of wire receiving slots Jr orifices therein. Integrally associated with the wirewrapping assembly are a conductor material feed assem- Jly and a gripping and cutting plier device.

A method illustratively embodying the principles of :his invention is practiced by employing the aforemen- :ioned tool. Each of the wires which it is desired to splice together is placed in one of the spindle slots, the :onductor material being arranged to extend from the Feed assembly and through the aperture in the conductor receiving member so as to project a preassigned distance beyond the end of the wire-wrapping assembly. Any suitable device is then employed to rotate the wrapping spindle and, thus, to wire Wrap the wires in an inter- ,eaved fashion onto the projecting conductor portion.

At the completion ofthe wire-wrapping operation, the plier device, which is designed to have its jaws positioned in a straddling relation to a wrapped connection, is actuated so as to cause its jaws to grip the connection. The plier device is then moved along a guide shaft so as to pull the gripped connection and the conductor material attached thereto away from the end of the wire-wrapping assembly. When the plier device has been moved to the and of the guide shaft, it is further actuated so as to cause its cutting edges to shear through the conductor rnaterial in back of the splice connection. Thus, the splice connection comprises a portion of conductor material having a plurality of wires wire wrapped thereon in an interleaved fashion.

Accordingly, a feature of this invention is a wire-splicing tool comprising a wire-wrapping mechanism including a spindle having a longitudinal conductor material receiving opening therethrough and a plurality of wire receiving slots or orifices therein, a guide shaft secured to the wire-wrapping mechanism, and a gripping and cutting assembly translatably mounted on the guide shaft, whereby a plurality of wires can be connected together by wrapping them in an interleaved fashion on a portion ofconductor material, the wrapped portion being gripped, advanced and cut free from the remainder of the conductor material by the translatable assembly.

Another feature of the present invention is a method of wire splicing comprising the step of simultaneously wire Wrapping in an interleaved manner a plurality of wires onto an electroconductive member.

A further feature of this invention is a splice connection comprising an electroconductive member, 'anda plurality of wires wrapped thereon in an interleaved fashion, wherebythe wires are joined together in a mechanically secure and electrically stable manner.

A still further feature of the present invention is a wrapping assembly comprising a rotatable wire-wrapping spindle having a longitudinal conductor material receiving opening therethrough and a plurality of wire receiving slots or orifices therein, and an assembly for rotating the spindle, whereby a plurality of wires can be wire wrapped onto a conductor member in an interleaved manner.

And yet another feature of this invention is a wirewrapping tool comprising a wrapping assembly having a longitudinal conductor material receiving opening therethrough and a plurality of wire receiving slots or orifices therein, an assembly connected to the wrapping assembly for rotation thereof, and a mechanism for feeding conductor material through the longitudinal opening.

A complete understanding of the invention and of these and other features thereof may be gained from consideration of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of one illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a portion thereof being broken away to show the invention more clearly;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged end view of a portion of the assembly of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 5A and 5B are enlarged perspective views of'a connection made inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

Referring now of FIG. 1, there is shown a splicing to'ol illustratively embodying the basic concepts of this invention. The tool maybe considered to comprise three components, each of which cooperates with the other two so as to produce a novel splice structure.

The first or driving component of the tool comprises a driving element, not shown, which is contained in a cylindrically shaped casing 10. The element may advantageously be an electric motor, but other types of driving elements can be arranged in the casing 10 so as to per form the desired rotary driving function equally well. A conductor member 11 fits through the bottom. of the casing 10 and is intended to supply the contained driving element with energy from an external source, also not shown. Switch elements 12, which are operated by a trigger 13 and a button element 14, are but illustrative of the manner in which an electric motor driving element, for example, can be controllably energized. An extension 15 of the driving element is securely connected to a drive shaft 16 which, in turn, is connected to a low-- e'r gear 17. The gear 17 is arranged so as to engage an 3 upper gear element 19 which is formed as an integral part of a wrapping spindle 20, the spindle being a part of the second or wrapping component of the tool.

The gears 17 and 19 are enclosed in a housing 22 to the back side of which is secured a guide plate 23. The plate 23 has an opening therethrough which is designed to receive and guide conductor material 25.

The material 25, which may be in strip form as illustrated, is supplied from a reel 26, the reel being mounted on the driving member by a supporting member 27. The guide plate opening through which the material 25 extends is similar in cross sectionto that of the material and is sized so as to allow the mterial to slip freely therethrough.

Turning now to FIG. 4, there is shown an end view of the wrapping assembly. The assembly comprises a cylindrical, longitudinally apertured stationary guide sleeve 30, the aperture of which is aligned so as to register with the aforementioned plate opening. A rotatable wrapping spindle 31 is coaxially positioned with respect to the guide sleeve 30 and is formed so that its generally cylindrical shape has a plurality of wire receiving orifices, e.g. slots 32, formed in the outer surface thereof.

Surrounding the guide sleeve 30 and the wrapping spindle 31 is a stationary housing sleeve 35, peripheral portions 35-1 of which are flared outwardly so as to facilitate the inserting of wire ends in the spindle slots 32.

The Wrapping spindle 31 and the housing sleeve 35 may, however, be formed as an integral piece. In that event, only the guide sleeve 30 would remain stationary during a wire-wrapping step.

Secured to a lower portion of the gear housing 22 in any suitable manner is a guide shaft 40 upon which is wound a spring 41. One spring end is secured to the housing 22 and the other end is secured to a collar 45-1.

The collar is a part of a gripping and cutting device 45 which is translatably mounted on the guide shaft 40. A portion 42 of the shaft 40 serves as a stop, i.e. the portion 42 limits the movement of the device 45 away from the end of the wrapping assembly.

The device 45, which is the third component of the tool, comprises gripping jaws 46, knives 47, handle elements 48 and handle springs 49. The portions of the jaws 46 which are intended to grip a wrapped connection are serrated so as to insure firm engagement therewith. Furthermore, for the reason given below, the gripping jaws 46 are spring loaded; FIG. 2 clearly shows one of the loading springs 43.

The knives 47 are secured in the device 45 by means of set screws. Both the knives 47 and the gripping jaws 46 are mounted in supporting elements 50 which are fastened to the device handles by suitable fastening means as, for example, screws 51 and rivets 52.

The spring 41, a back stop element 18 and the handle springs 49 serve to locate the plier device so that its gripping jaws are normally positioned in a straddling relation with respect to a wrapped connection, as shown most clearly in FIG. 2.

In operation, the above-described tool can advantageously be employed as follows:

Each of the wires which it is desired to splice together is placed in one of the spindle slots 32, the conductor material 25 having previously been arranged so that it projects beyond the end of the wrapping assembly. The trigger 13 is moved so as to depress the button 14, the driving element being thereby energized. The driving element causes the drive shaft 16 which is coupled to the gear 17 to rotate, and the gear 17 rotates the wrapping spindle 20 by driving the spindle gear 19. The spindle 20 then wire wraps the wire ends in an interleaved fashion onto the projecting portion of the terminal material. The trigger is released when a sufiicient number of turns have been wire wrapped onto the material. Then, the plier handles 48 are actuated so as to cause the jaws 46 to grip the connection, and the device 45 is moved along the shaft 40 until the end stop 42 is struck. At that point, further force on the plier handles 48 causes the knives 47 to contact and to cut through the material 25. The jaws 46, which are spring loaded, grip the connection in a resiliently firm manner and do not deform it during the conductor material cutting operation because the spring members 43 are selected and arranged 1 so that less than a connection deforming force will cause terial 25 are then correctly positioned for the start of another splice connection.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, there is shown a splice connection made by the above-described tool. Furthermore, FIG. 5B shows a completed connection as it might advantageously be arranged so as to receive an insulating sleeve member 60 thereover.

The present invention comprises a tool of the type above described. Furthermore, the invention includes a method which is a rapid and'etficient one and which is suited for making exactly reproducible splice connections. A splice connection made in accordance with the principles of the present invention includes a portion of conductor material upon which are wound in a neat compact interleaved mechanically secure and electrically stable manner a plurality of turns of skinned wires.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are illustrative and not restrictive of the principles of this invention. Other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for connecting together a plurality of wires comprising wire-wrapping means including a spindle having a longitudinal conductor strip receiving opening therethrough and a plurality of wire receiving orifices therein, a guide shaft secured to said wire-wrapping means, and connection gripping and strip cutting means translatably mounted on said guide shaft, whereby a plurality of wires can be connected together by wrapping them in an interleaved fashion on a portion of conductor strip, said wrapped portion being gripped, advanced and cut free from the remainder of said strip by said translatable means.

2. A wire-splicing tool comprising a housing, a wirewrapping spindle projecting from. the housing, a conductor guiding member within said spindle, and a translatable assembly secured to said housing, said spindle including a plurality of peripheral orifices for receiving, respectively, each wire to be spliced and for guiding these wires, upon rotation of the wrapping spindle, into an interleaved wirewrapped connect-ion around a conductor projecting from the guiding means, said conductor guiding means for guiding a continuous conductor through said spindle, said translatable assembly for moving a splice away from a wire-wrapping zone and positioning an adjacent portion of conductor therein and including gripping means, cutting means, and operating members, said gripping means for seizing, upon restricted movement of the operating members, a wrapped splice for translation away from the wire-wrapping zone, said cutting means for severing the splice from the continuous conductor upon further movement of the operating members, and motive means for rotating said spindle.

3. A tool for making splice connections comprising a wire-wrapping assembly, guide shaft means connected to said assembly, and translatable means mounted on said guide shaft means, said wrapping assembly including a conductor receiving element, and said translatable means having gripping and cutting members, whereby said assembly wire-wraps a plurality of wires in an interleaved fashion onto a portion of material, and said translatable means grips, advances and cuts free the portion of material having a plurality of wires wrapped thereon.

4. A wire-splicing tool comprising a housing, a hollow rotatable wire-wrapping spindle projecting from the housing, a conductor guiding member within said spindle, and a translatable assembly secured to said housing, said spindle including a plurality of peripheral orifices for receiving, respectively, each wire to be spliced and for guiding these wires, upon rotation of the wrapping spindle, into an interleaved Wire-wrapped connection around a conductor projecting from the conductor guiding member into a wire-wrapping Zone, said conductor guiding member for guiding a continuous conductor through said spindle, said translatable assembly for moving a splice away from the Wire-wrapping Zone and positioning an adjacent portion of conductor therein and including gripping means, cutting means, and operating members, said gripping means for seizing, upon restricted movement of the operating members, a wrapped splice for translation away from the wire-wrapping zone, said cutting means for severing the splice from the continuous conductor upon further movement of the operating members, and motive means for rotating said spindle.

5. A splicing tool comprising a wrapping spindle having a longitudinal opening therethrough and a plurality of slots formed on the surface thereof, means for rotating said spindle, means for feeding conductor material from the back or rotating means end to the front of said spindle through said opening, whereby a plurality of wires, each of which is placed in a spindle slot, can be wire wrapped in an interleaved fashion onto a frontwardly projecting portion of the material, and means integrally formed with said spindle, said rotating means, and said feeding means, for gripping, advancing and cutting free the wire-wrapped conductor portion so as to form a mechanically secure and electrically stable connection.

6. A wire-connecting tool comprising a housing, a wirewrapping spindle projecting from one face of the housing, the spindle having a through bore for guiding a conductor strip, and wire-controlling openings for wires to be connected and for guiding these wires into an interleaved wrapped connection on a portion of the conductive strip projecting from the spindle, means for rotating the spindle, translatable means for feeding a suitable length of connector strip for each connection and for severing a completed connection from the strip comprising a guide shaft projecting from said one face of the housing in parallel relation to the spindle, gripping means, cutting means, and operating means therefor slidably mounted on said shaft, means for biasing the translatable means to a home position relative to the indicated housing face, and stop means for arresting the translatable means at said suitable length from its home position.

7. A tool for connecting a plurality of wires by wire wrapping the end portion of each of such wires around a rectangular section conducting strip adjacent an end thereof, said tool comprising a housing, means for storing the conductive strip, a rectangular orifice on one side of the housing for orienting the strip, a wire-wrapping spindle projecting from the other side of the housing, the spindle having a through bore juxtaposed to the orifice for guiding the strip and wire-receiving and -controlling openings tor receiving the wires to be connected and for guiding these wires into an interleaved wrapped connection ad jacent the end portion of said strip projecting from the spindle, means for rotating the spindle, translatable means for feeding a suitable measured length of connector strip from said spindle for each connection and for severing a completed connection from the strip, said means comprising a guiding shaft projecting from said other face of the housing and parallel to the spindle, grasping means, cutting means, and operating means therefor slidably mounted on the shaft, spring means for urging the translatable means to a home position relative to said other housing face, and stop means on the outer end of the shaft for arresting the translatable means at said measured length from its home position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,108,917 Elder Feb. 22, 1938 2,688,449 Haagensen Sept. 7, 1954 2,697,213 Patton Dec. 14, 1954 2,732,139 Shafi Jan. 24, 1956 2,741,436 Belek Apr. 10, 1956 2,743,502 Reck May 1, 1956 2,758,797 Miklau Aug. 14, 1956 2,759,166 Mallina Aug. 14, 1956 

